Behind the Bookcase
by Traye
Summary: The citizens of Gotham City face a sobering reality behind the bookcase of the late Bruce Wayne's Wayne Manor Library.


The Mansion:

They say nobody really knows anyone else. A man who everyone adored could be a murderous scoundrel, and a man who everyone thought was a frivolous playboy could actually be a hero. That was the way things were in Gotham City. The moment you thought you knew what was going on the city would turn things on it's ear.

A small army of Gotham City Police officers lingered near the entrance to Wayne Manor. The mansion, which had just recently began to be called by it's new official name, The Martha and Thomas Wayne Home for Children was currently emptied of those children. They'd been moved to an undisclosed location until the current scandal ended. The boys in blue had been guarding the place twenty four hours a day since this had started, most of them working on days off and after long shifts to secure the site and keep any stragglers and opportunists at bay. Today was different however, today detectives peppered the crowd of officers along with representatives from Wayne Enterprises who were on site to secure what they were only referring to as 'The Tech'.

Reporters lingered near the edge of the action, camera men shooting the scene laid out before them. This was national news, everyone had heard of Bruce Wayne, most harbored biased opinions on the guy. He never really had a good reputation. Most people saw him as a spoiled drunken playboy with no respect for the legacy his family had engrained on the city. Across the property was a grave marker marking his life and death, a grave marker that sat besides that of his parents but unlike the hundred of people that had shown up to mourn their deaths it was said Bruce only had three mourners. Police commissioner James Gordon, Wayne Enterprises President Lucious Fox, and trusted man servant Alfred Pennyworth. Three people for a lifetime, it seemed pathetic and sad. It reminded people just how lonely the guy must have been and made his sacrifices all the more important.

Static crackled in the air and suddenly the whole scene came to life. The reporters began to scramble, the cops who just moments ago were standing idly by doing nothing now began to make their way inside the building.

"Careful, slowly," someone said loudly. The back of a large panel van lifted and two cops quickly went to work on building a ramp to it's cargo hold. The whole thing lasted less than two minutes and almost as if on cue a team of police officers rolled a motorcycle out the front door.

It wasn't like any motorcycle on the road, the only time any of them had seen it was when it was been ridden by The Batman. Sleek, black and with large guns mounted on it's front the cycle didn't look like much, but looks could be deceiving. There was nothing like it anywhere in the world and the day the Batman blew up over Gotham Harbor the thing had just disappeared. Until now.

"Jesus," someone said.

"It was really him," another said.

"What are they going to do with it?" Someone else asked.

The question floated in the air unanswered because two minutes after the cycle was carefully guided down the stairs and into the back of the panel van another team of cops stepped out carrying small items in their hands. The Batman Armor.

The City:

The usually rowdy bar was quiet today. The TV usually glued to ESPN was currently tuned to the news channel and the patrons watched as city police loaded The Batman's cycle into a van. When the story broke nearly a week ago nobody had known what to make of it. Everyone in the city had known who Bruce Wayne was but he was the last thing you thought of when you thought about The Batman.

_Police are keeping tight lipped about the implications of the discovery in Wayne Manor. City officials had always taken a hands off policy concerning The Batman's identity but the discovery of what's been called a cave beneath Wayne Manor connected by a secret passage way inside the mansion and filled with Batman gadgets reasons the mystery is solved._

_Earlier today GNN acquired copies of the late Bruce Wayne's medical records and were astonished by his physical condition. A link to a copy is on our website but it shows a man with numerous broken bones and scars, several concussions, kidney damage and cartilage missing in his knees, elbow and shoulders. Our independent doctor tells us that this is absolutely the sort of damage one could expect to do to their body when waging a one man war against crime._

"Guy was nuts," someone muttered from the end of the bar. A young man with well coifed blonde hair and an expensive suit was clearly deemed to be the culprit and every eye glared at him is if pre planned in advance.

"Hey why don't you show some respect," someone said sternly.

"Yeah the guy saved millions of lives that day, saved MY life that day. Gave his life to save this city. Show him some respect," the bartended added with a disapproving glance.

The young man in the suit stared quietly into his beer and did his best to become invisible.

The television was suddenly displaying a photo of Bruce Wayne with the word Batman underneath accompanied by a question mark. It wasn't much of a question. Not anymore. Everyone knew it was true, Bruce Wayne WAS the Batman.

City Hall:

Mayor Randall Tucker stared at the TV screen and wiped his face with his hands. He'd watched silently while Gotham PD rolled out the Batman's tricked out motorcycle, and sat opened mouthed when they lugged out pieces of Batman's sleek body armor.

Bruce Wayne. He'd met Bruce Wayne several times but nothing about the man said Batman when they spoke. He was a goofy, arrogant, rich boy with scotch on his breath. He remembered hearing about the guy's funeral and deciding not to attend. Nobody had it seemed. Three people. One of them his butler. The other two, Commissioner Gordon and Lucious Fox, likely knew the truth about his identity. Three people, hardly a hero's honor.

"Bruce Wayne. Of all the people under that mask I still can't wrap my mind around it," Deputy Mayor Christina Harper said softly. "Bruce was just so."

"Goofy," Tucker said for her.

Christina laughed. "Yeah, goofy. Remember when he burned his house down?"

Tucker shook his head, he'd met with Gordon yesterday and the man had filled in plenty of blanks. "He actually didn't. That woman who worked with Bane, Talia al-Ghul, it was actually her father who burned it down. A guy named Ras al-Ghul, the same guy who tried to poison the city with that funny gas. Bruce pretended to be drunk and threw everyone out to protect them. Nobody got hurt, nobody panicked, they just grabbed their coats and left. Had he screamed fire for instance people would have surely died in a stampede for the door."

Christina shook her head, shocked. "Jesus. This whole time he'd actually saved peoples lives with that stunt," she sighed hard. "He was crucified in the press."

"We need to do something," Tucker knew from his private conversation with Gordon that Wayne was steadfast against people knowing the truth. In his final conversation with Gordon he'd actually said as much, who isn't important, what is.

"We should have a press conference, acknowledging Bruce's sacrifice for this city. For our lives. I mean the guy only had three damn people at his funeral. That's criminal."

Tucker let the corner of his mouth curl into a small smile. "I have a better idea. Let's go ahead with the press conference and lets get city services on the phone. I think we can honor Bruce's sacrifice while honoring his wishes and giving the city something to rally behind."

City Center:

"…so today we honor the sacrifice of the Batman by honoring his wish to remain anonymous. Even in death. Today we honor not who he was underneath the mask, but what he stood for, what he meant to us all. Today we honor the sacrifice he made for Gotham City and it's residents by vowing from this day forward to leave the Batman case file open. Today we deem this week's discovery at Wayne Manor inconclusive. Today we say to the city and the world that Bruce Wayne was NOT the Batman, we haven't seen enough proof, we don't have enough evidence to make that determination, we don't have the money in the budget to investigate it any further. Today we say we don't care who, all we care about is the what. That's how we honor his sacrifice in Gotham City. And to all you outsiders out there remember, this is Gotham City, when the world turned it's collective backs on us and left us to die it was The Batman who saved our lives. It was him who gave his life for ours. In Gotham city that's enough for us. He was our hero, our Dark Knight. And we deem this investigation still open."

Commissioner James Gordon watched the mayor give his speech from the podium and watched as his boss soaked up the applause of the city. Gordon had spent the better part of an hour trying to convince the mayor that the last thing Bruce Wayne wanted was for the city to know the truth. That couldn't be helped though, the truth had come out, by accident like secrets were prone to do, and the cat was out of the bag. Still the mayor had found a way to honor his wishes, in spirit at least, and the city seemed to be behind it.

The mayor stepped away from the podium the applause of the city still deafening and Deputy mayor Christina Harper stepped to the podium in his place. She gave the crowd a wry smile then looked over her shoulder to her boss who'd reclaimed his seat.

"On a totally unrelated note it was brought to our attention that one of Gotham's favorite sons was buried unceremoniously in his family plot after the events of No Mans Land. I was told that sadly only three Gotham residents were able to attend his going home ceremony. So Bruce Wayne, wherever you are, Gotham wants to you to know that we haven't forgotten you, you are remembered and revered in this city. Especially in this city. Today we rechristen Gotham Boulevard, Bruce Wayne Boulevard. Today we honor you with the very heart of our fair city. From one end of Gotham to the other you are a part of us Bruce Wayne, for now until the end of time."

Gordon listened as the crowd reclaimed it's thunderous applause. They understood. Bruce would love that. Gotham Boulevard was the only street that stretched Gotham's borders from one end of the city to the other. Often called the heart of the city you could get anywhere from the Boulevard. They say if you could find it you'd never be lost in Gotham. It was fitting they'd name it after Bruce. Without him the city would be lost. Without him destruction and chaos would have been their future. Bruce Wayne was their heart now. Gordon rose to his feet and joined in on the applause. Yeah, Bruce would have liked this.


End file.
